BBC Radio 1 To Begin Transition To On-Demand Platform With new Strategy

Drawing inspiration from Apple Music and Spotify, BBC Radio 1 will begin a launch of exclusive streaming content this autumn.

The content will combine roughly 25 hours of “on-demand” specific content with the normal BBC Radio 1 on air content, in what Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra Controller Ben Cooper believes will be the kick off towards a new revenue stream for the BBC. Cooper has also described his intention of turning the BBC into the “Netflix” of music radio, priming itself as a prominent destination for music discovery. Additionally, the 25 hours of 2016 content will continue to expand over the upcoming years.

The entire process is part of Cooper’s “phone first” strategy, which centers around a users ability to pick and choose what, when and where they they want to listen to while also evolving the BBC brand into the era of digital streaming.

On the strategy, and the comparison to Netflix, Cooper says:

“The reason I am doing this is because of what I see happening in the TV industry with Netflix…Netflix are investing something like $30m an episode in [the Queen Elizabeth II historical drama] The Crown. On House of Cards they spent perhaps $6m an episode. If you look at that and have a choice of giving yourself an hour of TV, what are you going to choose? You are going to choose the one that looks the best and has the biggest stars and money invested in it. I think the same is happening with audio.”

About The Author

Steve comes to Amsterdam by way of Brooklyn, Connecticut, Mumbai, and Tokyo. He researches media culture at UvA, while already holding degrees from UCONN (CT) and The New School (NYC). Aside from DHA, Steve is the Senior Editor for cinema platform IndieNYC.com, and writes on issues relating to film, culture, politics & electronic music. Every so often he also dabbles in photography and filmmaking.